The big news in the travel industry this week was that the official star ratings for hotels is expected to be superseded by online review scores.
According to John Penrose, the Tourism Minister, the current system is out of date and does not accurately reflect holidaymakers’ concerns.
“We are going to be publishing our tourism strategy next month and in that we back a consumer-led system like Trip Advisor rather than traditional star-rating systems.” - Source: Independent.co.uk
Despite the fact that the move is expected to be resisted by hoteliers, many of whom have spoken out about review sites in the wake of the TripAdvisor row, I agree with the minister.
The current system does not benefit holidaymakers anymore than it does small hotels, which despite high standards of service, accommodation and food, are judged less favourably because they are unable to offer the same wealth of services as the larger hotels.
If a new rating system does come into play, then travel companies will no longer be able to use websites as a shop window, or just an opportunity to market holidays to customers. Travel companies will have to listen and connect with their customers if they are to authentically cultivate customer endorsements and advocacy. Power to the People!
So what are the concerns? Well of course most hoteliers will be quaking in their boots about the prospect of negative reviews having a detrimental effect on their hotel’s reputation. But why?
The most damaging effect for a brand is not the negative review, but how the brand reacts to it. My advice for travel companies is not to hide or ignore negative reviews, but connect yourself with the customer and use the opportunity to listen to them and fix the problem. If brands do this, they not only have the opportunity to neutralise a negative perception of their brand, but also to improve it!
The Virgin Atlantic complaint letter is a prime example of how to turn a complaint into positive publicity. If the company had ignored the customer’s complaint then its reputation would have most certainly suffered. However, the fact that there was a very personal apology from Mr Branson himself and a solution offered, meant the damage was limited and the brand was seen to listen and act on customers complaints. Virgin Atlantic also received lots of free exposure in the media - which is not a bad result either.
There is a great blog post about ‘How to respond to online hotel reviews’ by Daniel Edward Craig a hotel consultant - I recommend reading if your company has been affected by online reviews.
Another concern will be how the reviews are policed to ensure they are fair and not open to abuse or sabotage from rival hotels.
Finally, there is the argument that a higher percentage of people will post a review to complain, rather than to commend. I think the reality will be that the companies offering an exceptional product or service, will stand out armoured with shining reviews, and the companies that choose to ignore the customer’s voice will suffer the consequences!
The Future
And the future for travel brands? Well that depends on whether brands decide to make the leap of faith and welcome user generated reviews on site.
I’m sure there will be travel brands that panic in the wake of negative reviews and opt to just drop hotels that receive consistently bad reviews, but this is not a sustainable solution.
One of our travel clients is looking into providing every customer with a unique ID which would enable complaints to be tracked and followed up by the customer service department. This is a great idea and really reinforces that every customer’s experience matters to the company.
The likes of eBay and Amazon have been using customer reviews on site to improve experience for years, so really, it’s about time the travel industry caught on!